Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Though RPGs do not dominate our sales the way they did a
decade ago, when they regularly accounted for between 20 to 25% of revenues,
they still average a solid 7 to 10% share of sales in the store, mostly due to
Pazio’s Pathfinder RPG, but Dungeon & Dragons 4th Edition still
takes the number 2 place solidly andWOTC’s D&D Encounters program, at least for the first several
campaigns, stands, to my mind, as the best developed and supported store-based
organized play program I have seen.

Consider what stores received:a multi-week campaign designed for first
level characters, broken into bite sized segments that a good GM could run in a
couple of hours (on a couple of occasions, when our GM failed to show, I
stepped in and ran the evening’s play with less than fifteen minutes spent
reviewing that evening’s session) and that did not require more than an evening’s
commitment from a player.Since each
evening’s game was comparatively self-contained, a session would build on what
had happened on previous evenings, while at the same time not leave a new
player at a tremendous disadvantage compared to regular players.

Starting with Murder in Baldur’s Gate and continuing with
Legacy of the Crystal Shard, this format changed.Now , stores no longer received the campaign
with each week’s session broken out.Instead, they had to purchase the full scenario and run it as more of a traditional
campaign, with each week’s events more closely tied to what had gone before and
players unable to join or miss sessions without having a greater impact on both
their character and the campaign.The new
format also required extensive work by the GM in order to develop 2 hour
sessions of gameplay so as to fit store time constraints while at the same time
satisfying the players.However,
satisfying a request of many players and GMs, WOTC did develop online
conversions for the campaigns, allowing DMs to run them using either 3.5, 4th
edition or D&D Next.

This changes again with the next D&D Encounter season,
Scourge of the Sword Coast, launching with the D&D Game Day the weekend of
February 15, 2014. First, the campaign will only support play with the
currently in-development D&D Next rules, though stores may apparently
convert the adventure to D&D 3.5 or 4th Editionif they so desire.However doing so requires more work on the
part of the store and/orDM, while using the D&D Next compatible various means
that retailers do not promote D&D products currently available for sale,
rather instead building interest in D&D Next.

The other major problem was that, unlike the previous two
campaigns, Scourge of the Sword Coast would only release as a PDF and
retailers, according to an email I received from WOTC’s Retail Support Team,
would have to purchase the PDF at full price.This sounded, to me, like a splendid way to kill off retailer enthusiasm
for the program, so I contacted Tolena Thorburn, Global Communications Manager
at WOTC for clarification. She informed that while WOTC still has to work out
the details, retailers that run Scourge of the Sword Coast will receive, along
with the Game Day materials, instructions on how to download the adventure at
no charge.

Regarding my other concern, that the next session of
Encounters promoted the upcoming (and unavailable) D&D Next rules, rather
than the currently available 4th Edition ones, Thorburn
replied:With
regards to the other changes to Encounters, we want to be clear that the
Adventure can be played with any rules set, but when it comes to in-store play
experiences, Wizards will always encourage retailers to work with our most
current product. We encouraged stores to run the first
two Sundering adventures in 4th edition or D&D Next, however
the in-store entertainment experience is truly up to the store owners. For
2014, we encouraging stores to focusing on running the adventures using D&D
Next, which ties to our announcement yesterday that the new rules system will
release in summer 2014.

What stores decide to do with the next
season of Encounters should prove telling. While our attendance has held
steady, I know of other stores which have reported huge drop-offs in attendance,
to the point where they could no long justify continuing with the program,
while still others shifted the time-slot to promoting other RPGs such as 13th
Age, Pathfinder (like it needs it) or Numenera.What happens with the next Encounter season should prove telling as to how
players will respond to Next, a version of which WOTC will provide along with
the PDF of Scourge.

Saturday, December 21, 2013

Once again I am reminded what a good police it is to “NEVER
ASSUME ANYTHING’.Even if somebody tells
you something has happened or they will do something, never assume it, always
double check.

Case in point#1.As it says at the bottom of
the column, I teach at Southeast Missouri State University.The semester just ended and we have to turn
in grades in the next couple of days.The university adopted new software this year, which, among other
things, automatically posted graded items to the gradebook, pretty useful
that.However, if a student fails to
turn in an assignment or take a quiz, instead of giving said student a zero, it
leaves the space blank and the software ignores it, giving said student a
higher grade unless I manually enter a zero. That’s well and good for most
assignments, since I have to manually grade them anyhow.However, tests automatically post themselves
and I was told that, if a student failed to take said test, the software would
automatically recognize this and give them a zero for the quiz. Turns out, I
assumed would do what I was told it do and it didn’t, meaning I had to go in
and fix quiz grades, which probably won’t make the affected students happy.

Case in point #2:A
fellow store owner gave a trusted employee an instruction.One would expect said employee to follow said
instruction, being as how it came from said employee’s said employer who cuts
said employee’s said paycheck.However,
said employee failed to follow said directions, causing someone to get
injured.You wouldn’t think you would
have to follow up, especially with a trusted employee but you just can’t assume
anything, can you?

The point I want to make is that, if you own the store,
whether a game store or a comic store,, you bear the ultimate responsibility
for its success or failure.You put the
money into it, it is your money on the line and assuming that things will
happen the way you expect them is the surest way I know to lose it all.

I don’t care how loyal, trustworthy or dependable your
employees and staff are, unless you have given them part ownership in the
business, they never view it the same way you do. They can’t.Every piece of merchandise on your shelves
represents dollars of investment sitting there staring back at you , rather
than nestling comfortably in your wallet or bank account.

In either of the cases above, did either of those involved set
out to cause harm or increase the difficulty of doing a job?Of course not.People in general want to do a good job, if
only to avoid getting terminated. Only in rare cases do people act to cause
harm to the place they work.However,
even if they have worked for you for years, you still cannot assume that they
will do what you tell them to do or that they understand it the way you think they
should.You still have to follow up and
build that into your management style, because, when you get down to the nub,
it is your money on the line.

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

As near as I can tell, according to this, stores will only be able to run the next session of D&D Encounters using the D&D Next rules, which contradicts what Greg Leeds said earlier this year regarding The Sundering and how players could use either 3.5, 4th Edition or D&D Next when playing.

This isn't a good idea since D&D Next rules are not available for sale yet and the whole idea of Encounters is to give players an opportunity to play D&D each week, not to playtest the next edition of the rules.

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Here are Brian's suggestions for 10 great graphic novels to give as gifts this holiday:

Top 10 Graphic
Novels to give as gifts

1.Saga Vol. 1:A great
gift for fans of science fiction or fans of compelling characters combined with
great art and storytelling.It has been
showered with awards and is, in my opinion, the best comic currently available.

2.Scott Pilgrim Color Edition
Hardbacks:The top choice for
the video-game fan in your life.This
new edition has been colored gloriously and presented in quality hardback form.

3.Gunnerkrigg Court:Based on the award winning
web-comic series, it has also been praised by Neil Gaiman.It mixes Science Fiction and Fantasy into a
wonderfully understated mystery set in the enigmatic Gunnerkrigg Court.Great for fans of Harry Potter.

4.V For Vendetta with Mask:Make the political activist in your life
happy with Alan Moore’s eponymous series about a corrupt fascist government
being brought down by a lone revolutionary hero.This edition also comes with a Guy Fawkes
mask!Great for any budding anarchist.

5.Star Wars:The Shadow of Yavin:This Brian Wood series follows the
Rebel Alliance after the battle of Yavin IV as they try and re-group and evade
the Imperial navy.It focuses on
Princess Leia coming to terms with the destruction of Alderan and her new
leadership role in the Alliance.We also
see Luke have to deal with his new status as one of the Alliance’s greatest heroes.On the Imperial side, we see Lord Vader
dealing with his failure to prevent the destruction of the Death Star and the
Imperial officers who would take advantage of this to improve their position in
the eyes of the Emperor.This would be a
wonderful gift to any Star Wars fan especially those who have shied away from the
daunting expanded universe.

6.Girl Genius Book 1:Agatha Heterodyne and the Beetleburg Clank:This introduces the reader to an
alternative Victorian Europe, ruled (badly) by Mad Science.We follow Agatha Heterodyne, the lost
daughter of one of Europe’s greatest heroes as she struggles to find her
destiny in a chaotic collection of city-states kept from controlled by the
fearsome Baron Wolfenbach.Ignorant to
her famous lineage, she discovers that she, like her parents, possesses the “Spark”,
the ability to create impossible feats of science.Though This series borrows a lot from
Steampunk, it’s creators describe it as “Gaslamp Fantasy”.It is full of Heroism, Adventure and Romance,
a must for any fan of Alternate History, Victorian Adventure, or Steampunk.

7.The Massive Vol. 1: Black Pacific:This near future tale is set after “The Crash”,
a combination of Social, Economic and Environmental collapse.World governments dissolve, countries
splinter into factions, weather goes haywire, economies crash and all of the
side effects push the world past the breaking point.We follow the crew of the Kapital, members of
the Environmental Direct Action group, 7th Wave, as they search for
their sister ship, the Massive with which they have lost contact with.They must carefully find their way through a
new, frightening world that is emerging in the “Post-Crash” world.How can they save a world that has already
been destroyed?Can they hold on to
their ideals is a world gone mad?This
is a thrilling story that hits very close to home and would be a great addition
to the library of the Environmentalist in your life.

8.Maus:Art Spiegelman’s Pulitzer award winning book
gives not only the harrowing account of his father’s experience surviving the
Holocaust, it is a detailed study of his relationship with his father as he
puts his story to paper.One of the most
notable features of this award winning book is the way he depicts the different
ethnicities;The Jews are depicted as
mice, the Nazis are cats.As enthralling
as his father’s survival story is, the story of the long-lasting effects are
just as gripping.Probably one of the
most important works of graphic fiction ever, this is a must for anyone looking
for a powerful story of humanity, survival, and family.

9.The Walking Dead Compendium 1:Collecting the first 48 issues of
the hugely popular zombie apocalypse series, this would be a great gift for
zombie fans of all types, especially fans of the AMC television series.

10.Mouse Guard: Fall 1152:This heroic tale follows members of the Mouse Guard, a group
of brave mice who guard the roads between the independent mouse city states and
protect the settlements from the barbaric weasels and all sort of predators.Written and beautifully illustrated by David
Petersen, readers young and old, will fall in love with the brave, tiny heroes
trying to protect the innocent and each other in a big, dangerous world.A great gift for fans of heroic fantasy and
beautiful artwork.

Saturday, December 7, 2013

Well, the last couple of days have certainly proven that
even the holiday shopping spirit is not match for Mother Nature as the elements
saw fit to drop a foot of snow throughout most of the Midwest, forcing the cancellation
of the town’s major Christmas event, the Lights Fantastic parade.Typically, the Lights Fantastic parade
bringsthousands of people into downtown
for most of the day as they jockey to get good viewing spots for the spectacle.
This gives stores in the area bordering the parade the opportunity to entice
them inside prior to the parade with specials or, more often as in our case,
hot cider or tea and cookies, as well as the opportunity to use the bathroom.The Lights Fantastic Parade typically increases
a December Saturday sales by about a third with minimal effort on our part.

Unfortunately, due to the weather and concerns about traffic, the Illinois Department of Transportation pulled the parade permit the day before the parade. No permit, no parade on a state highway. so we had lots of cookies and hot cider to give out to many fewer people